> Maybe you'd go off to college, but then come back when it gets hard because it's totally okay if you never amount to anything. I would say, it's totally okay

> Maybe you'd go off to college, but then come back when it gets hard because it's totally okay if you never amount to anything. I would say, it's totally okay for any person, in rural US or urban, to not go to college if they don't need it. I am a huge proponent of higher ed, including making it freely available to all, but this idea that you have to go to college to "amount to something" is damaging. Additionally, your use of "amount to something" is showing your own bias towards feeling that white-collar work defines success in life. Not everyone feels like this -- as you've noted, but it's not limited to "college-educated hippies." I know many, many people who work solely to put food on the table and find their fulfillment elsewhere. This could be via volunteering, art (not only hippie art), mentoring others, or pursuing dream jobs in their free time. Imagine if the safety net of UBI existed -- how many more people would feel confident taking the risk to open the restaurant they've always dreamed of opening, or art gallery, or other cottage-industry? Furthermore, It's not about preventing people from working if they want to. It's about ending minimum-wage slavery -- making sure people don't need to work two or three minimum wage jobs just so their children have food to eat and a roof over their heads. > I would probably just spend my life on the internet and playing games while feeling guilty. You say this, but I kind of doubt it. That guilt would spur you to do something of value. > Others would escape through drugs. There is currently an epidemic of drug use in the US due to all the people trying to escape from the misery of their $7.25/hour existences.